Well gave a list of older songs that I have in heavy rotation right now...

tears for fears- head over heels
Hall & Oates- Maneater
Roxy Music- More than this

I was sincerely hoping that nobody thought that I was being ironic...its a bit of shock to me really....but all of these songs are genuinely...unironically rocking my universe right now... This whole Irony thing is a bit touchy... I mean peoples taste in music is a precious thing...perhaps it shouldn't be that way, but it is. Tastes are often carefully engineered. And I am the first to admit that I have in my life gotten a kick out of liking something far beyond the sphere of 'coolness'...

but the songs above...are not like that...I love them way too much for that...

Its the rush-loving part of my personality coming out....

Those who know me, know that I have basically been a life-long (literally) fan of rush...( I can see my label boss reading this whispering to himself...'shut up jeremy') I mean its actually fairly hard dealing with the fact that I love a band that is so universally despised...the point is, that while some might get a kick out of ironically kinda liking rush...I have to deal with the fact that in the right mood, parts of 2112 are like heroin for me

but somehow I doubt I'm alone on this...not that there are legions of rush fans out there....but

I was told recently about this website that tracks peoples listening habits...and then somehow figures out what they like....a few people have mentioned this thing to me...and all seem depressed by it...horrified at learning what it is that they actually like listening to... the thought of people ashamed of their own tastes is for me totally depressing and intolerable

I just wanted to mention this...so that any recomendations I give in the future, are always understood clearly...

there's to be no irongy...I won't recommend something unless I actually, truly, honestly love it

Ok so some of you might be here because of mark fisher.I guess I could respond a little bit, to what was said about the junior boys on his blog. I think that perhaps its important to say something about ecclecticism. I would think that people who have narrow tastes in music, can fall victim to retro revisionism... It makes sense....I mean if the only thing you ever listened to was depeche mode, then you would probably make music that sounded exactly like depeche mode. My guess is that most people who make music have fairly broad tastes. Some might say ecclectic tastes....so the issue is, how does music best represent the ecclectic tastes of musicians...

What I think mark was driving at, was that ecclecticism in taste is important, but that music is always best when a band has "a sound" and are not just a mosaic of the many genres or musicians that influence them. Mark lists a few junior boys "precursors"....and most of them are pretty much spot on (with the exception of MBV and Blue Nile, who I like, but know very little about). Its certainly true that when I heard both John Foxx and Dem 2 for the first time, I felt somehow that my whole attitude towards making music would be different. But I guess whats weidest is that I didn't listen to those people as an empty slate...

I think that lots of people who make music will appreciate the idea that sometimes when you hear something that blows you away, part of why it blows you away is because you felt as though you were waiting for it. That was definately true with me and Dem 2...when I heard some of the early stuff on Locked ON, I felt pushed into a direction that I was sorta waiting to be pushed into...For me I sorta felt like a had some idea about what sound I wanted, but was waiting for an influence...

I think that listening to music is a little different when you make music....when you hear something you like, sometimes your first thought is what is the pragmatic use value of this thing that I like....I guess this is the danger of ecclecticism...you can hear the "cook-up" gears working on every bad band that ever said "I think we need a reggae song"

I've got a friend named Koushik who has done stuff with kieran hebden and dan snaith...to me Koushik is the perfect example of someone with massively ecclectic tastes who is able to keep his ecclecticism controled. Despite both his broad influences and the varying genres that he incorporates into his tracks...he always maintains 'his sound'

ok thats it for now...

but...

I read over that thing of mine that mark linked to...to me it seems dated...i did it over six years ago...you can decide
- posted by Jeremy @ 11:30 AM

Monday, June 09, 2003

Well...
I found out that Artemyev's work for Tarkovsky is out on a collection. Apparently it is through his son's record label called 'electroshock'
- posted by Jeremy @ 4:14 PM

Saturday, June 07, 2003

Toru Takamitsu is a pretty incredible japanese composer. I remember seeing a concert of his work featuring the percussion ensemble nexus, which was unbelievable...The write-up said that the music was inspired by looking at a curtain blowing in the wind. After watching Kwaidan recently, I noticed that he did the music for it. Much like Tarkovsky's films, in which composer Eduard Artemiev produced lush electronic soundtracks, which were as critical to the film's totality as the cinematography, acting etc....Kwaidan is completely reliant on Takamitsu's sparse soundtrack which seemlessly accompanies the brilliant visuals.
I wonder if there is an OST available on CD.
- posted by Jeremy @ 1:00 PM

Monday, June 02, 2003

I've heard the New Luomo album....

and I've got that "oh god....how to compete" feeling...probably a good thing, generally speaking. A sure sign that you love a sound, is that you feel totally bummed that you didn't create it, and spend hours trying to figure out a way to answer it... what is popular music if not a conversation.

Had this convesation with my cuz Dave the other day. Dave is an exceptionally talented Jazz musician, who plays Saxaphone and Bass Clarinet. He is a major Bee-Bop fan, and plays in a Jazz quartet in and around Hamilton. I told him that I was conflicted about what I thought about Jazz musicians. I told him that I be lying if I didn't admit that I have on many occasions totally gotten off on witnessing a virtuoso performance. I mean you can watch the most traditional music being played by a master and think to yourself (if at least for a moment) this cultural event is really exciting. But then again shouldn't culture be the product of people speaking to one another, in the moment. I've always thought that the most exciting culture was the stuff being produced by people who had an almost insatiable appetite for the future. A need to produce the future before it happens.

First Off, Thanks to everyone on the net and beyond, for the Junior Boys love. All this before anything has been officially released, its great. I'm going to try and keep this space going for updates and general information...but for general Kin info and other stuff you can go to www.electrokin.com

or feel free to e-mail me.

Ok what now:

well I should start by saying that the First E.P. will be coming out this summer (yeah), so I should probably stop the 'sending off free demos' policy (boo)